There is also the fact that some people make you feel differently about yourself so you behave differently! I was incredibly relaxed and at peace when I was visiting my friends in South Africa – it’s because they love and accept me AS I AM.

I would say that I am fairly consistent with most groups of people and different groups bring out different aspects. Now, I would also be leery if I saw someone behaving quite differently than usual; most people have some core. Some people naturally “mirror” to fit in and it’s less that they seriously change as their mirroring makes others feel more comfortable – they create rapport.

But I do think I know what you mean about feeling distrustful about someone who really changes. That would ring the alarms with me, too!

So I guess with that opinion, I do think that people should generally be pretty similar no matter who they’re with. That’s most likely not going to be the case in general, but I still like those kinds of people more than those that modify their behavior to always fit in.

What do you think?

group dynamics are interesting!

Some people are great with including others – like referring to inside jokes and giving the “outsider” the scoop. I’m probably like most people in that if I don’t feel included, I end up not joining a particular group even if I get along with all of the individuals. I also think it’s fine if I’m not invited to everything – I mean, if groups or subgroups like say, doing tequila shots every Wed, I’m not into that so they can have all their inside jokes about tequila shots that they want.

I remember you guys loving to share stories with me. I don’t know, you guys might have just done it because I was a new person to laugh at your stories, but it sure was nice for me, too.

Anyways, I just hope that I’d be someone that other people would be able to say was someone who made other people feel like they belonged.

that is if i ever hang out with you and your friends. haha